Glossary entry for Berenice Chouteau (1801-1888). She was the daughter of Pierre Menard and his first wife, Marie Therese Michelle Godin. She married Francois Chouteau in 1819 and came with him to the western Missouri frontier where he was engaged in the fur trade business. They had nine children and she outlived all of them as well as her husband who died in 1838 in this area. After living elsewhere during the Civil War years, she returned to Kansas City and lived here until her death in 1888.

Notes

Early historians often claimed that Berenice Chouteau was the first white woman to live in western Missouri. While that distinction almost certainly belongs to Madame Grand Louis Bertholet..